UK Deaf Sport host conference to tackle key issues for deaf athletes

UK Deaf Sport have held their first national conference titled "ReDEAFining Deaf Sport" ©UK Deaf Sport

UK Deaf Sport have held their first national conference at The Wesley Hotel in London, with a series of expert speakers and contributors taking part to discuss key issues and opportunities related to deaf sport.

The conference, entitled "ReDEAFining Deaf Sport", saw delegates exchange examples of better practice and explore innovative ideas, after being officially opened by Craig Crowley, Honorary President of UK Deaf Sport and chief executive of Action Deafness.

Crowley has been a major advocate for increasing the visibility and recognition of deaf athletes and deaf sport, and played a key role in co-founding UK Deaf Sport, the National Disability Sports Organisation, in 2003 before serving as the charity’s chair until 2009.

The assembled delegates were introduced to UK Deaf Sport’s new community programme titled "DEAFinitely Inclusive", which aims to support organisations to create more opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing people of all ages to participate in sport, either playing, coaching or volunteering.

One of the central themes of the two-day event was the attempt to show sport development professionals how they could be innovative in adapting marketing and communications to include deaf people, in addition to understanding and insight about their participation in sport and physical activity.

Deaf sports organisations from across the United Kingdom also participated in workshop sessions aimed at discussing how they could maximise funding and investment opportunities to aid the development of deaf sport.

Delegates at the conference made several pledges to help boost deaf sport in their day to day work ©EDFS

Lee Dolby, director of development at UK Deaf Sport, was positive that the first conference has had a positive effect on helping deaf and hard of hearing people to become involved in sport.

“It was great to see so many organisations come together to share and learn the steps that can be taken to make sport and physical activity more accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people,” he said.

“The conference has been a fantastic opportunity for us to engage and with providers of sport and share expertise.

“Along with valuable insight that we’ve gained through our national survey that can support organisations to understand the needs and motivations of the audience.

“We hope that this will lead to future opportunities where we can continue to ‘reDEAFine’ deaf sport in partnership others.”

Barry Horne, chief executive at the English Federation of Disability Sport (EDFS), was also among the speakers at the conference and spoke about their vision, "disabled people are active for life".